Developing community-based forest enterprises (CBFEs) is an ideal development intervention in poor forest communities as they have the potential to generate income and employment for the poor while supporting sustainable management of forest resources. This potential is limited by various constraints, many of which are unique to forest-based enterprises.
Nepal introduced various community based forest management (CBFM) programmes that aim to improve forest management while improving the livelihoods of the forest dependent poor. One of these programmes is the Leasehold Forestry and Livestock Programme (LFLP). Various studies have demonstrated its positive impacts but several studies also pointed out its unintentional negative impacts.
The study documents practices of 28 community-based forest enterprises (CBFEs) in Nepal, representing different enterprise models - FUGs, networks, cooperatives, and companies. FUGs are primarily constrained by their limited scale in terms of membership and land area. The formation of intergroups and networks minimizes this limitation.
